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Orders
What to know about the insect orders
• Common names
• Type of metamorphosis
• Number of wings
• Significant anatomical characteristics
• Significant ecological characteristics
• Examples of ecological/human significance
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Non-insect Hexapods
• Hexapods (= 6 legged arthropod)
Non-insect Hexapods
• Protura
– Very small (0.6-1.5mm)
– No eyes or ocelli
– No wings
– No antennae
– In deep soils
– Internal mouthparts
– Detritivores
Non-insect Hexapods
• Diplura
– Small to medium (<7mm)
– No eyes or ocelli
– No wings
– Long antennae
– Cerci
– In soils
– Internal mouthparts
– Predators/scavengers
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Non-insect Hexapods
• Collembola
Non-insect Hexapods
Non-insect Hexapods
• Collembola
– *Springtails*
– Very small (0.25-6mm)
– Furcula
– Tenaculum
– Ocelli only
– No wings
– Antennae
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Collembola – Springtails
Several families with different body shapes
Furcula (the lever part
of the “spring tail”)
Latch of the furcula
Non-insect Hexapods
• Collembola
– *Snow fleas*
– Very abundant
– Internal mouthparts
– Phytophagous
– Scavengers
Male Collembola deposit clumps of sperm on soil and
females come along and collect them.
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Called snow fleas because they emerge before snow
melt and are visible on snow, jumping around in March
A mass of thousands of collembola in spring
Collembola are critical decomposers in most terrestrial
ecosystems.
Mt Collembola, Alberta, Canada Collembola on
English and
French stamps
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• INSECT ORDERS
• Development of thorax and definitive insectan
body form
• INSECT ORDERS
– Insects can be broken into two large
groups: those with wings and those
without wings.
– Apterygota (= no wings)
– Pterygota (= winged)
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Insect Orders
• Archeognatha (Bristletails)
– Medium sized (15mm)
– No wings
– Large compound eyes
– Ocelli present
– Archaic insects
– Found on rocks in damp places
– No metamorphosis
– Feed on algae, lichens, and other plant
material
– Nocturnal
Insect Orders
• Thysanura (silverfish)
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Insect Orders
• Thysanura (silverfish)
– Medium size (12-19mm)
– No wings
– 3 filaments on abdomen
– Flattened body
– Silvery scales
– No metamorphosis
– Common in homes
– Feed on paper (bindings)
A silverfish-damaged photograph
• INSECT ORDERS
– Insects can be broken into two large
groups: those with wings and those
without wings.
– Apterygota (= no wings)
– Pterygota (= winged)
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Insect Orders
• EVOLUTION OF WINGS
– Flying fish hypothesis
– Flying squirrel hypothesis
– Thermoregulation hypothesis
– Sexual selection hypothesis
Insect Orders
• Ephemeroptera (Mayflies)
Insect Orders
• Ephemeroptera (Mayflies)
– Small order (2000 species)
– Greatest diversity in temperate climate
– Two pairs of wings
– Adult has no functional mouthparts
– Incomplete metamorphosis
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Insect Orders
• Ephemeroptera (Mayflies)
– Immature mayflies (naiads) are aquatic
– Majority of life spent in water (cool
streams)
– Biological indicator species
Insect Orders
• Ephemeroptera (Mayflies)
– Synchronous molting to adulthood
– Mating clouds of millions
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(left) Massive swarm of mayflies around street lights. (right) Map using data
from Doppler radar of Lake St. Clair MI, June 26 2001. Pink or red indicates a
detectable mass of insects.
Insect Orders
• Odonata (Damselflies & Dragonflies)
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Insect Orders
• Odonata (Damselflies & Dragonflies)
Odonata in Popular Culture
Fossil Dragonflies: 250 million years
Some fossil dragonflies were the size of sea gulls.
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Close up of
a dragonfly
head.
See the
tiny
antennae
and large
eyes. Does
this
predator
hunt by
smell or
sight?
Naiads are jet propelled
Dragonfly naiads pull water into
their rectum and then expel it
rapidly to produce a jet of water
that propels them forward in
quick jerks
The rear end of a
dragonfly naiad,
where the “jet
engine” is located
Naiads have an enlarged, hinged
labium (called a labial mask, see
upper right figure of naiad, seen
from below), which is shot out (see
above) to catch prey (see right)
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Insect Orders
• Odonata (Damselflies & Dragonflies)
Insect Orders
• Odonata (Damselflies & Dragonflies)
To transform to
adults, Odonata
naiads crawl out of
water, attach to
vegetation and then
emerge as adults,
which must sit for a
while to expand and
dry their wings
before they can fly.
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male
Male’s penis is
located up near
wings
Odonata have an
unusual mating
female
position and fly in
copula
Insect Orders
• Odonata (Damselflies & Dragonflies)
– Predators as adults and naiads
– Incomplete metamorphosis
– Two pairs of wings (with many veins)
– Males are territorial
– Fossil remains of odonates with wingspans
exceeding 2 feet!
Insect Orders
• EVOLUTION OF WING FLEXION
– Advantages?
– Ephemeroptera & Odonata (Paleoptera)
– All others from here on (Neoptera)
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Insect Orders
• Dermaptera (Earwigs)
Insect Orders
• Dermaptera (Earwigs)
– 1800 species
– Live in moist soil
– Feed on leaf litter
– Nocturnal
– 1 or 2 pairs of wings
– Gradual metamorphosis
– 2 families are parasites of bats and rodents
– Chemical defenses
Insect Orders
• Plecoptera (Stoneflies)
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Terrestrial adults,
but aquatic naiads;
ecology and
importance of order
are similar to that of
mayflies.
Stonefly naiads are similar to those of mayflies but can be told apart because
they have only 2, not 3 cerci. On right, see gills.
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Insect Orders
• Plecoptera (Stoneflies)
– Aquatic naiads spend much of their time on
rocks (under water in cool streams).
– Naiads predatory or grazers
– 2000 species (most in temperate regions)
– Incomplete metamorphosis
– Adults live briefly
– Winter stoneflies
Insect Orders
Phasmida (walking sticks, leaf insects)
Insect Orders
Phasmida (walking sticks, leaf insects)
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Insect Orders
Phasmida (walking sticks, leaf insects)
- World wide distribution
- 2500 species described
- Longest insects (up to 50 cm)
- Many are wingless (or with reduced wings)
- Feed predominantly on plants
- Gradual metamorphosis
- Regeneration
- Chemical defenses
Lord Howe Island
Walking Stick
This giant endemic
walking stick insect
was thought to have
gone extinct due to
predation by
introduced rats on its
only home, Lord
Howe Island
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But has been rediscovered
on a small rock near the
island (Ball’s Peak),
where a tiny patch of cliff
side habitat existed that
was inaccessible to rats. It
is now being bred in
captivity pending
eradication of rats on the
main island.
Insect Orders
• Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets)
World's Largest Grasshopper
Wilkie, Saskatchewan
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Key Features for Orthoptera
1. Leathery forewings
2. Tegmina
3. Jumping hind legs
4. Strong ovipositor, often used to place
groups of eggs in soil
Tegmina:
hindwing parchment-like
(some wingless)
Strong jumping legs
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Grasshopper
ovipositor Cricket
(below),
showing
its long
ovipositor
Egg mass
Orthoptera have strong ovipositors they use to insert eggs into substrates.
Here, grasshoppers are inserting egg batches in the soil.
ORTHOPTERA
• Crickets, Katydids, Grasshoppers
Key Features
4. Nearly all herbivores
5. Tend to be large insects
6. Some species may be cryptic or exhibit
warning coloration
Like nearly all Orthoptera, grasshoppers are herbivores, eating plants.
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Many Orthoptera use mimicry
A lichen mimic
A leaf mimic
Bright colors on
Orthoptera such as
these grasshoppers
are often a sign that
they are chemically
defended and taste
bad and/or are toxic.
Boldly patterned wasp mimic
Crickets
Field crickets are a common part of the animals we live with in eastern fields
and meadows, contributing their song to summer nights.
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Mole crickets are
specialized for
digging.
Katydids - see long legs and long antennae
Orthoptera
Key Features
7. Sexes communicate by singing
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SCRAPER (a peg) FILE (a series of ridges)
Crickets are the original washboard
musicians, making their music with a peg
drawn over a series of ridges when the
wings are moved in a sliding motion.
G. texensis
Pulse rate about 80 pulses/second at 25 C.
G. texensis calling song
G. rubens
Pulse rate about 56 pulses/second at 25 C.
G. rubens calling song
Calling songs
http://www.csun.edu/~dgray/songs.html copyright David A. Gray
Courtship songs of Texas field crickets
http://www.csun.edu/~dgray/songs.html copyright David A. Gray
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How do crickets hear each other’s songs?
Cross sectional diagram of tympanum
-the hearing organ, located on
the tibia of the first pair of legs
Tell the temperature by listening to
field crickets’ song.
O
F = chirps/15 seconds + 40
Key Features
8. A few species are important pests,
especially desert locusts that swarm
and Mormon crickets.
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Locust swarms
Desert locusts maintain populations in
stable habitats (yellow) and periodically
swarm into additional regions (green).
Swarm biology includes a change in
appearance (images on right)
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Morman cricket
outbreaks happen in
Utah and Nevada
ORTHOPTERA IN CULTURE
Statue in Salt Lake
celebrating the divine
deliverance (via sea gull
predation) of Morman
farmers from crop losses
threatened by an
outbreak of crickets.
Keeping crickets in
homes as caged pets
for their song has a
long tradition, in both
Europe and east Asia
Chinese Antique Nickel-Silver Cricket Greek Cricket Cage,
Cage circa. 1920's $295.00
barley, circa. 200 AD
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Shanghai Cricket Club 1885
Visual Art-Japan
“Picture entitled
“The Cricket
Cage Peddlar",
by Kiyonaga, ca.
late 1700's,
(courtesy of The
Art Institute of
Chicago)
Insect Orders
• Orthoptera (grasshoppers,
crickets)
– Over 20,000 species
– Saltatorial hindlegs
– Two pairs of wings (sound production)
– Primarily phytophagous
– Gradual metamorphosis
– Occasionally swarm
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• Isoptera (termites)
Termites eat wood via gut protozoa. Structural damage
can be severe.
Insect Orders
• Isoptera (termites)
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For our local species, mud tubes are a sign of infestation.
Termite effects on local ecosystems
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Chimney-like flues inside the
mound provide ventilation for
temperature control.
Insect Orders
• Isoptera (termites)
– Eusocial insects
• Caste system
• Reproductive division of labor
• Brood care is cooperative
Insect Orders
• Isoptera (termites)
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Insect Orders
• Isoptera (termites)
Insect Orders
• Isoptera (termites)
Insect Orders
• Isoptera (termites)
– 2300 species (10% world’s biomass)
– Evolved from a cockroach-like ancestor
– Gradual metamorphosis
– Winged reproductives (2 pairs)
– Damage human-made wooden structures
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Insect Orders
• Blattaria (cockroaches)
Insect Orders
• Blattaria (cockroaches)
– Old group (300mya)
– 4,500 species
– Gradual metamorphosis
– Only 30 species cohabit with humans
– Greatest diversity in tropics
– Most are nocturnal
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• Mantodea (mantids)
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• Mantodea (mantids)
– 2000 species
– Raptorial forelegs
– Very diverse in tropics (mimicry, etc.)
– Predatory with excellent vision
– Full head rotation
– Gradual metamorphosis
– Sexual cannibalism
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Insect Orders
• Mantodea (mantids)
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Insect Orders
• Anoplura (sucking lice)
Insect Orders
• Anoplura (sucking lice)
– Over 3000 species
– All are very flat and wingless
– Many body modifications
– Host specific
– Vectors of typhus
– Gradual metamorphosis
Body lice can spread typhus.
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Body lice can spread typhus.
Body lice can spread typhus.
Insect Orders
Pediculus humanus
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Insect Orders
Insect Orders
Pthirus pubis
Insect Orders
• Hemiptera (True bugs)
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Hemiptera have sucking mouthparts and gradual metamorphosis
Nymphs lack wings.
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Ground giant waterbugs are used in Thai
cooking.
Plant Bugs: Lace Bugs:
Miridae Tingidae
Lace bug damage
to foliage
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Geocoridae-Big Anthocoridae-
eyed bugs-predators Minute pirate bugs
Pentatomidae-
Predatory stink bug
Triatomidae kissing bugs-
Vector of Chagas disease in South America
Chagas disease
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Cimicidae-bed bugs-an old problem back in the dorms
Periodical cicada
Cicadas emerge in
swarms at long
intervals.
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Leafhoppers
Leafhoppers feed on plant
sap, and many species
transmit plant viruses.
Tree hoppers (Membracidae)-are thorn mimics
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Psyllids look like tiny cicadas
Nymphs are not
Adults are winged
Bemisia tabaci- a billion dollar insect
When this insect invaded
the US, billions of dollars
were lost in poinsettia,
melon and vegetable crops
Aphids
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Insect Orders
• Hemiptera (True bugs)
– Hemiptera (= half wing)
– Over 50,000 species described (very
diverse)
– Feed by piercing and sucking
– Mouthparts modified into a proboscis (=
beak)
– Phytophagous and carnivorous
– Gradual metamorphosis
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